Old Rough And Ready Revisited

Today the Obama campaign decided to set their sights on this McCain campaign tactic of saying different things to different audiences. It came to a head on multiple fronts. Here's the first paragraph of Obama communications director Robert Gibbs' message to reporters:

The self-professed candidate of "straight talk" and "experience" spent today changing his position on gay adoption, adopting Senator Obama's position that we need more troops in Afghanistan after having resisted taking that position, flip flopping on whether he'd send U.S. or NATO troops (he actually offered three different explanations on where those additional troops would come from), and referring to a country that hasn't existed since 1992 for the second time in two days.

McCain started the day opposed to gay adoptions, then his campaign responded to criticism by flip-flopping back on the issue with utmost speed.

On Tuesday, as criticism of McCain's comments spread, his campaign elaborated on the candidate's views. 'John McCain could have been clearer in the interview in stating that his position on gay adoption is that it is a state issue. ... He was not endorsing any federal legislation,' a campaign statement said. 'Sen. McCain's expressed his personal preference for children to be raised by a mother and a father wherever possible,' the statement added. 'However, as an adoptive father himself, McCain believes children deserve loving and caring home environments, and he recognizes that there are many abandoned children who have yet to find homes. John McCain believes that in those situations that caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative.'

He then made a big speech on foreign policy, essentially adopting Sen. Obama's call for more troops in Afghanistan despite rejecting it as recently as a week ago. As Gibbs puts it:

TODAY (MORNING): McCain Called for Sending Three Additional Brigades to Afghanistan and Suggests They Would Come From Iraq. According to a press release issued by the McCain campaign on Tuesday morning, McCain would announce in a speech that he now supports sending at least three additional brigades to Afghanistan: "The status quo in Afghanistan is unacceptable, and from the moment the next President walks into the Oval Office, he will face critical decisions about Afghanistan. … John McCain Supports Sending At Least Three Additional Brigades To Afghanistan. Our commanders on the ground say they need these troops, and thanks to the success of the surge, these forces are becoming available, and our commanders in Afghanistan must get them." [McCain press release, 7/15/08]

TODAY (AFTERNOON): McCain Clarifies His Proposal On Increasing the Number of Troops, Saying They Could Come From NATO. "Speaking to reporters on his bus after today's speech, McCain indicated that he'd be open to those additional troops coming from NATO." [MSNBC, 7/15/08]

TODAY (EVEN LATER IN THE AFTERNOON): McCain Campaign Further Clarifies Proposal, Saying The Troop Increase Would Be Comprised Of Both NATO And US Forces. "McCain spokeswoman Nicolle Wallace said later that U.S. troops will compose some of the additional brigades McCain would send to Afghanistan, but not all of them. 'Will we contribute? Of course we will,' she said." [Washington Post, 7/15/08]

Somehow, this is the man still seen as the more credible commander in chief? Despite Obama's 8-point lead in that Washington Post poll, McCain is seen by a wide margin as the candidate with "a better knowledge of world affairs." This is despite having referred to Czechosolvakia, a country that NO LONGER EXISTS, twice in the last two days.

And the slip-ups are common on the campaign trail - what is not common is this tactic, which I now have to believe is deliberate, of saying diametrically opposite things to different audiences. The BBQ-stained media is running a lot of interference for him on this now, but one of these days a conservative is going to read the wrong newspaper article. Or an independent is going to run across the wrong issue of National Review. This isn't going to last.